Security Alert Summary
The Community Events plugin for WordPress contains a vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to approve events without proper capability checks. The issue is caused by a missing permission check in the plugin’s approval function, which can be triggered via a specific parameter.
CVE Details
- CVE ID: CVE-2025-14029
- Affected plugin / component: Community Events plugin for WordPress
- Affected versions: All versions up to, and including, 1.5.6
- Published: January 17, 2026 at 5:16:10 AM UTC
- Last modified: January 17, 2026 at 5:16:10 AM UTC
- CVSS v3.1: Base Score 5.3, Severity MEDIUM, Vector String: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
- Authentication / Privileges / User Interaction: No authentication required; Privileges Required: NONE; User Interaction: NONE
- Primary impact: Confidentiality: NONE; Integrity: LOW; Availability: NONE
- CWE / Weakness: CWE-862 (Missing Authorization)
Technical Details
The vulnerability is caused by a missing capability (authorization) check in the plugin’s approval routine. Specifically, the function ajax_admin_event_approval() does not verify that the requester has the appropriate permissions before acting. Because this check is absent in all versions up to and including 1.5.6, an unauthenticated actor can send a request containing the eventlist parameter to trigger approvals for arbitrary events.
Impact is limited to modification of event approval state (integrity impact). There is no indication in the provided data that confidential information is accessible via this flaw, and availability is not affected according to the CVSS metrics.
How This Could Impact Your Website
In a typical small- or medium-sized WordPress site using Community Events, roles may include a site owner, internal staff who manage content, and external contributors or contractors who submit events. An unauthenticated attacker exploiting this issue could approve events they should not control. Practical consequences include publication of unwanted or misleading events, spam entries appearing on public event listings, and reputational risk if inappropriate content is shown to your audience.
Because the integrity of event approval is affected, site managers may need to manually review newly published events for unauthorized changes. If you’re unsure whether your site is affected or how to assess your current user roles and plugins, it may be worth having a professional review.
Recommended Actions
- Update the affected plugin as soon as a patched version is available.
- Review and reduce unnecessary user roles, especially contributors and any roles with content-approval capabilities.
- Enforce strong passwords and enable two-factor authentication for editors and administrators.
- Remove unused or unmaintained plugins from your site.
- Monitor site activity and event listings for unusual approvals or content changes.
If you’d like help reviewing your plugins, user roles, or overall WordPress security posture, our team at Freshy is happy to help.
References
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/community-events/tags/1.5.5/community-events.php#L160
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/community-events/tags/1.5.5/community-events.php#L64
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/community-events/trunk/community-events.php#L160
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3437116%40community-events&new=3437116%40community-events&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/098c3f4c-b6bc-462a-98ef-30e6a68d74cf?source=cve
